and all the parents i talked to today about this shooting in this elementary school said one thing, like james rosen's mom said, they're going to hug their kids tighter tonight. there is a memorial service in a few minutes in newtown. we're going to show that you live. 20 families there sent their kids to grade school this morning like any other day and tonight they're not coming home. 11 nights from christmas on this the seventh night of hanukkah. a holy time of the year. whether you observe these holidays or not, tonight the thoughts and prayers of this nation are with the victims and their families, fair, balanced and unafraid. >> this is the fox report. tonight mass murder at an elementary school. dozens are dead after a gunman opened fire on children. >> just after 9:30 this morning, newtown police received a 911 call. >> it happened just as the school day was beginning.

>> they didn't tell us anything. >> i just heard the principal was shot and killed. my son was in the gym when it happened. >> they rushed the kids into the bathroom and they locked the door. >> by the time the gun fire ended, blood and bodies were everywhere. >> i know there is not a parent in america who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that i do. >> tonight the shooting spree at a grade school. i'm bill hemmer. evening, in for shepard smith. we're live in newtown, connecticut, small town, 90 minutes north of manhattan that right now is dealing with the aftermath of an unspeakable crime. the murder of innocent children. it happened at sandy hook elementary, connecticut state police saying a gunman walked into that k through fourth grade school earlier today, around 9:30 local time, and opened fire. investigators say he murdered 20 children and six adults.

>> the kids were terrified. they were terrified. they had just witnessed something and they terrified. >> many of them were friends of ours and people we socialize with. it's painful right now. >> 20 children. this image shows connecticut state police leading children away from the school, each of their small hands on the shoulders of the children in front of them as they walk from the scene where a mad man killed their friends. this woman was on the phone waiting to hear about her sister a teacher at the school. we do not know tonight what happened to her sister, whether or not she's alive or among the dozens of dead inside that building. reports indicate the gunman is named adam plan zoo, age 20. segmenters say he died inside the school as well, apparently committing suicide after inflicting unimaginable pain on so many families. including his own.

state police confirm the gunman shot somebody else all before this at the school. somebody he lived with. that victim, apparently his own mother. fox news has confirmed the gun that he used were hers. all legally purchased and registered, glock and hand guns and a semiautomatic rifle. the weapons used to murder 27 people today and shatter countless lives in connecticut. we have team fox coverage. molly line with us. but we begin with a fox report chief correspondent jonathan hunt with me live in newtown tonight. it is hard to imagine what these children went through today. >> it is the terror that they experience today, bill, unimaginable. the pictures that you see, those faces filled with tears, the faces filled with terror give you some idea. these were tiny children, ages between five and ten, we were

told being brought out of that school in the middle of a horrific scene. their terror perhaps only matched by the terror of parents who heard that this scene was unfolding and rushed to the school in a desperate search for their children. listen. >> doesn't even seem real. it just does not seem like it's even possible. >> there is no words. it's shear terror and a sense of immediate urgency and to get to your child and to be there to protect them. >> now, we're told that as they were being led out, the children who survived this slaughter, were told by cops and teachers to cover their eyes. one can only imagine they were told that because they were literally stepping around and over the bodies of their classmates, bill. >> there has been a lot of confusion throughout the day on the facts of this story.

we're trying to sort this through the hour and urge our viewers to be parent as we work through it. there is a lot of confusion about the shooter. what can we report? >> what we're being told now by u.s. officials is that the shooter is 20-year-old adam lanza. there was confusion earlier because he may have been carrying his elder brother, ryan lanza's i.d., his elder brother is 24. he's in custody. he's helping the f.b.i. with their questions, apparently being very cooperative. not a suspect in any way. but the shooter, we're told, this 20-year-old adam lanza. according to rick leventhal, who has been leading much of the reporting today on this, adam lanza woke thumb morning at his mother's home, shot her in the face and then came to this school. imagine the scene right now in sandy hook elementary. though the bodies of the children, many of them still there, we are told, and the

difficulties are caught in identifying it, the only way because these kids obviously don't carry i.d., is for the parents to actually identify the bodies themselves. governor malloy talked about that difficult process earlier today. listen. >> our police personnel and others are doing the utmost to clear this situation as soon as possible to return these children to their parents or these loved ones to their fellow loved ones as quickly as possible. and we'll work with all of the residents of this community and connecticut to make sure that we do, in fact, get through this. >> just imagine, bill, that many of these parents have probably already bought and wrapped christmas presents, put them under the tree. they'll never be able to give them to their kids.

>> ten or 11 days from now. we have been told that inside that school it's a grisly scene and it's not simplistic, meaning that there is a lot of evidence these investigators have to go through. the mind reels when you think about it. if you're a police officer arriving inside that classroom st have seen. there are accounts apparently that am so of the first responders are pretty broken up. >> police officers and firefighters. there was a fire house very near sandy hook elementary school and some of those firefighters were among the first to get there. we heard reports, we did not see it with our own eyes -- but understandably were leaving the school in tears. they had gone in obviously, found 20 children among 26 dead. it is obviously there will be a lot of counseling for the children, for the parents, and as the cops said today, for the first responders.

listen. >> the first responders to come together, counselors, it's amazing how the immense amount of family that's shown in front of newtown. everyone is coming together, supporting everyone, working together, trying to answer all the questions as to how and why this occurred and trying to lend support to all the people involved, including the victims. >> almost impossible, bill, i think ultimately to even put into words the amount of pain being felt in this community. >> i've been with you throughout the day and terrific work under trying circumstances and many in the town, you really feel for what they're going through. we should get briefing from the sheriff's department this hour. when that happens, we'll bring it you want to investigators say they found the suspect's mother dead inside her home. not far from the school, about ten miles. that's what federal law enforcement sources are telling us tonight. local police have not yet confirmed a lot of this, but molly line is working that part of the story. she is outside the mother's home

here in nearby newtown. what do we know about what happened inside that house that was owned by nancy lanza? molly, good evening to you. >> bill, much of the information has been gathered from authorities here in connecticut at the federal level and from rick leventhal who spent much of the day with the authorities attending those press conferences and he'll have a lot more detail information to come in this hour. but what we know about what happened this morning is that adam lanza got up, shot his mother, nancy lanza, in the face, who is a teacher at the school where much of the horrific activities happened today. he then gathered her weapons, registered weapons in her name, two hand gun and a rifle, got in her car and drove to the school. those are the activities that happened here in the neighborhood that we know about. a horrible circumstance, particularly when you look down a street, upper class homes, beautiful christmas decorations. horrific activity, nothing would have been expected like this.

>> molly, you had a chance to speak to a lot of people in the small town. what are they telling you about how they're trying to process and understand this? >> you know, it was an emotional experience all across the community today, particularly when nobody had any idea what was going on, particularly when text messages were coming to parents' phones. we spoke to a woman who worked at a cafe. this is a small town with independently owned businesses lining the streets and she said there were a number of mothers at the school getting the phone calls and text messages, absolutely horrifying, running from her store and her fear is that she will know some of those children that were killed today. we had a chance to speak with a woman who owns a hair cutting place for kids, specifically for children. she says for many of the victims, she suspects she may have given them their first hair cut and their second hair cut and third hair cut. this is a very small community with small businesses lining the streets. really the type of place where

everyone knows everyone else and there is a wait and see now to find out who among them are among the victims. bill. >> indeed there is. thank you. molly line, about ten miles from our location right near the school here in newtown, connecticut. thank you for that report. i met a young girl earlier today. she said it's her birthday today. she turned 11 years old and she asked her mother if this will be her own 9-11. there is so much confusion, as you can imagine, as people sort through this. we are learning, by the way, more tonight about the family of the suspected shooter. harris faulkner spoke with a source close to them. she's live in our studios in new york and good evening to you. >> good evening. as we've been saying for the first three hours of reporting on this story today, we were being told by authorities a man in his 20s named ryan lanza was the shooter and was dead. tonight, of course, we know and have told you his younger brother, adam, is the one who is dead, suspected of carrying out the massacre, wearing his older brother's identification.

but we also know that original suspect, ryan lanza, has been in custody for much of the derek being questioned in hoboken, new jersey. officials believe ryan lanza is cooperating and not believed to have been involved in the rampage. fox news has confirmed ryan lanza has a facebook page. it is active. we're not showing it here. but it lists him from newtown, connecticut, and living in hoboken. it caught our attention today when he or someone else on his behalf began leaving messages on-line via twitter about ryan lanza not being the shooter and saying his facebook page showed a man who had not done the horrible thing in connecticut. at the same time, a source telling me ryan was part of a family that lived a very quiet existence. the dad often visited ryan lanza when he was enrolled at quinn pee yack university and the two appeared to have a good relationship. but that ryan talked so little about his family that even those people who knew him for years knew very few details about

them. not one picture of his family inside his college room. no mention of his brother, adam. it seemed as though ryan's parents were divorced, but few people were sure about that. in fact, i can say that they are divorced. the dad, peter lanza, lives not far from the scene in connecticut. we're told he's still talking with f.b.i. agents, but not suspected of having any role in what played out today. bill? >> hair i thank you for that. we'll be in touch later this hour. harris faulkner report not guilty new york. average class size in this school district for kids in kindergarten, 17. the last serious crime reported in this town? two years ago. 2010. much more ahead. massacre at sandy hook, including all this developing information about the suspect and certainly about the victims tonight. a live look outside saint rose church in newtown where members of this community are gathering for a memorial service, just getting underway to remember the

innocent victims. plus a visibly shaken president obama addressing the nation a few hours ago. we will share that with you as well, coming up tonight on the fox report this holiday, share everything. share "not even close." share "you owe me..." share "just right." the share everything plan. sharable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. get a droid razr m by motorola for $49.99.

>> bill: our coverage continues live. the elementary school massacre in newtown, connecticut. i'm bill hemmer, good evening again. a shooter entered a school earlier today shooting to death 20 children, six adults. alexis says she was in a classroom when police burst in and told everyone to hide in a corner. now what happened with her daughter and good evening to you. wow. what a day this must be. >> unbelievable day. she's holding up and she's been a trooper. we're doing a lot of talking and a lot of communicating and a lot of extra hugs and kiss.

>> bill: how do you communicate with her now, lynn? what are you talking about? >> we're honest with her and she didn't know that the principal had been killed and so she had heard that on the news. i sat down next to her and explained to her what had happened and the man that did all of this is no longer here. we talked a lot about feelings and talked a lot about how are you doing and is there anything you would like or what do you want to talk about, or -- just in general, just how are you as a person? she's eight. she's not two. so there is, unfortunately, you can't hide things from children at this age. so we're just in constant communication with her to kind of check in and say, are you doing okay? or what are you thinking about? are you sad?

her and i journal back and forth very often. so we will continue to do this. and it's been a great tool for the two of us and we'll write different things that happened during the day or if we're feeling happy or sad or something is bothering us. so this will be a phenomenal tool that we will have going forward. but she's been open and honest and she is sad and so she's just like mama, are you okay? i'm like, honey, i'm more than okay. i'm just worried for you. i'm worried for their friends, for our friends at the school and everybody that we've been in contact with over the years. >> bill: lynn, you sound like a terrific mother and alexis is lucky to have you. i know tonight you feel very lucky to have her. thank you for sharing part of your story with us today.

>> thank you. >> bill: so many people across this country really, their prayers are in your corner. they're pulling for you. >> we appreciate everything. thank you. >> bill: you bet. our best to alexis. okay? b. >> you bet. >> bill: all right. more from connecticut in a moment here. also we're going to get a bit more from washington, d.c. as officials, i the president, expressed their shock and sadness today as our coverage continues. we are live in newtown, connecticut, tonight on a day that --

>> bill: now the scene inside of saint rose, a local church here in newtown, connecticut, a vigil began about 23 minutes ago. 7:00 o'clock local time as that service continues. there is a church down the road, st. john episcopal church.

there is a sign outside that says, healing prayer today at all the churches in this community, including this one at saint rose, we watch and pull for the folks who are gathered here tonight. >> i haven't the words that makes the pain of what happened today easy to bear. i'm heart broken as i know all of you are. but nothing hurts more than the loss of innocence, but no more so with those that are left. i'm heart broken and i know many of you share my grief. i have a simple prayer, i turn to god in times like this. my prayer is very simple. show me and show us the way to wrap our arms around those families that have been so affected by this event. show us how we can heal and how

we can help them heal. by great faith and love for this community. i know we are a good and gentle place. we will somehow manage to get through this horrible event burks we need to do it together and we need to wrap our arms and loving support around those families who have lost a child. i thank you all for being here. i knew that we would. >> bill: this is only the beginning. only the beginning for a very long healing process, only ten hours into this horrific story here in newtown, connecticut. i mentioned st. john episcopal church, which is down the road from here. it is open. the doors are open of the the lights are on and the sign outside says healing prayer today. as i mentioned, the healing is just underway. president obama fighting back tears, speaking to the nation from the white house about the school shooting. a gunman killing 26 people, including 20 young children. the president saying he reacted

to this news not as a president, but as a parent. >> the majority of those who died today were children. beautiful little kids between the ages of five and ten years old. they had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. >> bill: there is a lot of that emotion throughout the country tonight. the president ordering flags at the white house, all government buildings and military bases to fly at half-staff for the next few days. house speaker john boehner tweeting earlier he's doing the same with the capitol in tribute to the victims and their families. he added the hash tag, pray for newtown. ed henry joins us live at the white house tonight.

the president made it clear, the federal government stands by this town in connecticut. >> no doubt about it. good evening, bill. you're absolutely right. you sought the raw emotion from the president. i was sitting a few feet away from jay carney, the white house spokesman. he took his eyeglasses off at one point, was wiping his eyes as the president spoke. you don't normally see that, obviously, around here at the white house when they've been going through the fiscal cliff and all these other major issues. all that is on the side lines now, at least for a few days. bottom line, you mentioned the flags lowered to half-staff here. they have to go forward with the business of government, though, because as you also noted, the president called the connecticut governor today. he have also called the f.b.i. director, robert muller, and pledged all federal resources to assist in this investigation, help state and local authorities. as i mentioned in terms of the fiscal cliff, the president was supposed to travel to maine next wednesday. pressure republicans out on the road about getting a fiscal cliff deal. i'm told that trip has been canceled. they may obviously have to be

dealing with a memorial service next week, bill. >> bill: ed, there was a mention today where the president seemed to make news on gun control. what was said there? >> he did. earlier when there had been other tragedies, whether it be tucson or aurora, the president spoke generally about a national conversation on this issue, but had not followed up with action. today he suggested very clearly that in a second term, that may change. take a listen. >> these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics. >> bill: captain mark kelly, the husband of former congresswoman gabby giffords, who is still recovering from that shooting in tucson, he today said that she sends her prayers from tucson to the people there where you are in connecticut and captain kelly added that he believes a

meaningful discussion of those gun laws is long overdue. bill. >> bill: thank you. ed henry on the north lawn at the white house. we're watching this memorial here in newtown. the governor of connecticut has just gone to the pulpit there. let's drop in here for a quick moment. >> may god bless our children who are with us today and those who were taken away. my god bless the adults who lost their lives today. thank you. >> bill: this is small town america, beautiful rolling hills, only 90 minutes north of new york city. neighbors know neighbors and families know families and they're going to need each and every one to get through this. we have live coverage where shortly after today's shooting, police took the suspect's brother out in handcuffs. what happened there? a live look inside of saint rose

church. you were just watching where members of the community gather for the first of many memorial services. that's coming up as we approach the bottom of the hour and the top of the news that on this day is so, so sad. >> you speak eloquently in community n embracing each other, not just by your physical presence, but by all of your emotions and sending a message to all of america, and believe me, the hearts and prayers of america are with you tonight. thank you for being here [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles

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can to overcome this event. we will get through it. >> bill: we are piecing the story together literally as we move throughout the hour tonight. here is what we know. the shooter, identified as 20-year-old adam lanza. sources say he killed his own mother in her home where he lived before committing mass murder at that elementary school. rick leventhal live at the spot where police have been updating us throughout the day and we expect a briefing again sometime later tonight. you have a lot of information. what more too we know about how this unfolded tonight? good evening. >> good evening, bill. as you mentioned, according to sources, adam lanza woke up this morning in his mother's home in newtown, connecticut, shot her, apparently in the face with one of three weapons and he then took to the school, drove there in his mother's car. his mother apparently worked at the school. some are saying she may have been a substitute there. in any ehave not, adam lanza,

according to sources, walked into the school and began shooting innocent children and innocent adults. as you mentioned, there are 20 confirmed children dead and six adults. adam lanza then apparently killed himself with one of those three guns. he used a glock, six hour and what's described as an m 4 type semiautomatic rifle. this shooting transpired just after 9:30 in the morning. police, local police were called. they arrived at the scene. immediately called state police and as officers arrived, they went right inside that school searching for students and teachers to bring to safety. they all -- they did get out, everyone else who hadn't been hit by this gunman, got out of the school. they were taken to a nearby fire house, which was set up as a staging area. then as frantic parents who heard about the shooting were arriving on scene, those parents were reunited with their children at that fire house. then were able to go home.

bill, you can imagine the terror many of these kids heard the gun fire, some of them saw the gunman. some kids apparently saw this gunman come into their class and shoot their teacher and ran out and managed to get out. unfortunately, 20 innocent children and six other adults did not. >> bill: we are told in a many of the children were told to close their eyes and run and once they get outside, to run toward the fire house, which seeing the school and the fire house and the road that leads to it. this is a picturesque place to send your kids to school. a small community with a small school building, just about one building comprises the entire campus with a baseball field behind it. now, rick, here is what we're trying to figure out. this gunman, who is now dead, apparently has at least one brother. he allegedly shot his mom in the face. she's dead. but he has a father as well. what do we know about the members of the family and whether or not they are giving information tonight? >> my understanding is that the

father is with federal authorities in new jersey and is being questioned by the f.b.i. and other authorities in new jersey, along with the brother, ryan lanza, who earlier today was being identified as the shooter. apparently there was confusion because adam lanza, may have been carrying his brother's i.d that may have led them to the brother's apartment in hoboken. that's where they found the brother, ryan, questioned him. i'm told he is being cooperative. his girlfriend being cooperative as well. and the father has been described as being cooperative, too. there are some reports that the family hasn't really spoken with adam much lately. we can't confirm that. what i can tell you is that the father and the brother are being questioned by the f.b.i any insight they may be able to give to adam's mental state obviously would be valuable in this investigation. bill. >> bill: yeah. absolutely critical. you're right about that. you have to think that investigators go immediately to

the relationship that this killer ha had with his mom. is there any sign that anyone has talked about that may have sparked this rampage? >> no idea. none whatsoever. and when i was talking to one of my sources, a federal agent who has seen it all and done so much in the field of law enforcement, he was as stunned as we all are at the way these events unfolded. stunned that not only this young man who shoot and kill his own mother in her own home, but then more stunned that he would then go the school and open fire. his mother wasn't there. his mother was home. he went to the school and killed those people, according to authorities and it's just, at this point, no explanation why. >> bill: rick, thank you. rick leventhal has been on scene all day. the news broke around 9:30 in the morning and about an hour later when all the details started to unfold, it just got worse every time a report came

out and here we are tonight trying to piece this together. police in hoboken, new jersey, say that they are talking and questioning the suspected gunman's brother, as rick was talking about. and two people who might be his roommates in new jersey. hoboken right across the hudson river from manhattan in new york city. you might remember seeing pictures of it under water after super storm sandy. anna kooiman is live in hoboken. what are you figuring out about the scene and what it's like behind you there? >> bill, yes, we're piecing things together just as you are. the building behind us apparently, the apartment home of the brother of the shooter, 24-year-old ryan lanza, as well as two other people. the building is still roped off with police tape. we got on the scene about 4:30 this afternoon and we counted about ten f.b.i. agents and hoboken police here. they did begin wrapping things up shortly after. but earlier today, a very different scene. chaos and confusion, which may have been sparked by a bit of

information we received from a reliable federal source that ryan lanza's i.d. ended up on adam lanza. that federal source also telling us that earlier this afternoon when ryan lanza pulled up to this apartment building with his girlfriend, he noticed police surrounding it. that's when he was cuffed and taken away apparently. he and his girlfriend both speaking with the f.b.i. and also cooperating with them. there had been reports that the girlfriend was missing. that apparently not the case. also some preliminary reports that somebody was dead inside this building. that not the case, from everything that we're hearing. we've even heard it was possibly the father. again, as rick leventhal mentioned, that federal source telling us that the father is speaking with the f.b.i. here in new jersey, bill. >> bill: you can imagine, too, we're trying to figure out what is fact and what is frankly not facts. hoboken a crowded community and there are a lot of neighbors there. how are they react to go what

they saw at that scene today? >> they watched it unfold just like the rest of us did and when the focus shifted ever so slightly to hoboken, of course, they became even more concerned. some parents telling us the daycare in the area was on lockdown. they were getting e-mails about that. let's take listen. >> just rips through you. you don't know what to do. you don't expect on a friday afternoon at 2:00 o'clock that the jersey city bomb squad would be running through your halls. you think your family is having a normal day off afternoon and playing with his trucks and being who he is and he has to deal with this. >> bill, residents in hoboken and connecticut really across america, hugging their children a little tighter tonight. >> bill: indeed they are. thank you. anna kooiman is on duty in hoboken, new jersey, following that aspect of the story. when there is more information from hoboken, we'll take you

back there live. our coverage continues here. in a moment, the emotional reaction that we're hearing from parents who say they have never imagined the horror would unfold the way it did today. that is still ahead as fox reports live from newtown, connecticut tonight.

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properly. we would expect that the lieutenant and i will be here first thing in the morning between 7 and 8:00 o'clock and by that time, we're hoping to have positive identifications of all the deceased at that time. we will send you out a news release, a press release, if you're not on our e-mail list, get it off the a.p. primarily it will include all the details we've given you for all the briefings we've given you during this evening. i see no need to keep you all here tonight. do what you feel is correct, but we will do no more briefings tonight. going to again, defer 'til probably 8:00 o'clock tomorrow morning. that's what we're shooting for. couple quick questions and i'll try and answer them if i can. >> anything about the injured victim? >> it was a female employee of the school who was wounded, who was injured. and is doing well. definitely, yes. >> are all the bodies still

inside the school? >> i don't want to get into details. the medical examiner has been on the scene with all the proper personnel and they'll do what needs to be done. again, primarily what we're looking at now is the positive i.d. to give some closure to people. >> we're hearing so many rounds were fired. can you comment on that? this is going to be a very pain-staking process. >> i couldn't have said it better myself. this is -- the way we investigate major crimes and for those of you that aren't here on a regular basis, it's a very meticulous process. we leave no stone unturned. we use all the resources we have available to us. we will do that in this case and then some. this is a case of extremely large magnitude, as you know, between newtown and state police and our federal partners that we utilized and even out of state partners will help us reach out of state if anything crosses the state borders.

it's going to take a long time. we will be processing this building and i'm just speculating right now, but at least until sunday. >> have the parents been given access to the bodies of the children? >> no. >> how are you managing the identification. >> we've process in place and we're going to establish. we have a process established, i should say, in place that we're going to utilize to identify each individual. >> the identification tomorrow (inaudible). >> cautiously optimistic we can have positive i.d. tomorrow. that's the professionals telling us that, specifically the medical examiner and his team. our investigators and working together, we're hoping to accomplish that. the families have been notified. the preliminary identification has been made and through process of elimination, the families have been told. we want to be absolutely, positively sure. >> you still had your eye on the scene earlier when it was crazy.

what was their role? is there still a role for them? >> certainly, they're with us working with us. there were federal partners from the f.b.i., atf, all offering a services and any specialization they have, offering a ability in case something crosses state lines. simply stated, everyone has come together in the law enforcement community. this is a massive investigation. many law enforcement agencies never have to undertake. we're certainly newtown, state police work side by side and utilizing any resource that we may need and we're very appreciative of all the help we're getting. >> you said this morning is there anyone but the perpetrator inside yet involved? any accomplice? >> no, at this point in time, we're confident that we have the shooter in this incident. >> in the classroom, every child (inaudible)? >> i'd rather not do that, quite frankly. i've been a trooper a long time. my lieutenant has been in law

enforcement a long time. it's just something that serves no useful purpose. it's horrific scene between our mutual experience and we've never seen anything like this. it's hard wrenching for us as it is for the families. i just would like to leave that. >> is there an issue with the school? did he attend the school? >> what we've got to do, we're looking at that. we're looking at all the history. we'll go backwards as far as we have to go in this investigation and hopefully we'll stumble on answers and we'll hopefully not -- but we want to be able to build a process and build a story and an investigation like this is like a puzzle. we want to put this puzzle together and form a complete picture so that everyone without any doubt whatsoever can understand what occurred. so what i'd like to say is that we'll come back tomorrow in the morning, let's say 8:00 o'clock in the morning, to let you know how we progressed overnight. as we prepare the list of

positive identification, i want to do one list. i don't want to do it[-wl8lqúl or a couple here or there. i want to do one final list. the minute that's done, we'll be here with it and we'll also post it on our web site so that it's available to everybody. >> how proud are you and the lieutenant of your officers with this situation, the way they were able to get those kids out of there and get as many out as quickly as possible? >> these guys, when they got to the door, were first in the door, and the surrounding pd's and the troopers, their training kicked in. this is something you train for. you plan for, you work towards. you hope you never have to use. and their training kicked in. they saved a lot of lives. they did a great job. very proud of them. >> tell us about the shooter. >> i'm sorry? >> what can you tell us about the shooter? >> i'd rather do that in the morning. once we have positive identification of the shooter, we want to have all that information and hopefully we can tie up some loose ends first

thing in the morning. i'd like to leave it where we are right now and we'll fill in the voids tomorrow as much as we possibly can. i'm sorry? >> (inaudible). >> medical examiner is managing the cases. he requests some equipment that's been brought in for him. they're there working now. >> how did you first hear about this shooting? did you hear -- what were the first words? >> in a nutshell, it was a 911 call that came in to newtown police and the response was instant. >> from within the school? >> yeah. >> one or multiple calls? >> i'm not sure. yes, i believe so. but i don't know how many occurred. >> (inaudible) what are they saying about the father and son? >> we've been in contact with

any authorities, our investigators with any authorities that can assist them in furthering their portion of the investigation. die know that new jersey has been mentioned. there has been two or three different locations have been mentioned, but not to read anything into that. is if there is something significant about reaching over a state line or doing something that may be related to this case, we're not going to hide it from them. we'll make it available to you and certainly provide with you that information. but don't read something into it just because you hear we've gone to authorities in another state. that doesn't mean anything really. >> a number of resources you have here for this, how are you delegating in regard to the rest of the state? >> it's working fine. we've got people on extended shifts. some people will work extra hours and suffice it to say, everybody is all hands on deck. we'll get this done and do whatever it takes to accomplish this in a timely fashion. i'm going to end it because what i'd like to do is give you a breck and give us a break and

we'll be back at 8:00 o'clock tomorrow morning here. okay? thank you. >> bill: that is lieutenant paul vance, connecticut state police. frankly, he has been a standup gentleman throughout the entire day today. you just imagine what that man has seen inside that school building. really rips your heart out. he said it himself, he has never seen anything like this in his life. it defies the imagination to see what he has gone through so far today. no more briefings tonight. the information is frankly it's been precious and few for several hours and there is a reason for that. the police here want to be careful that they're doing exactly the right thing at the right time with the right facts. next briefing, he said, 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning when he believes there will be positive identification given not just on the victims, but also on the shooter, the gunman inside that school. my colleague, jonathan hunt, back with me this evening. this is going to be a painful

process and it just starts now. >> it will be a really painful process. you could hear the emotion there, bill, in lieutenant vance's voice when he talked about what he's seen. he talked about the training that the teachers have gone through, the training that the first responders have gone through. and how that kicks in. but at the same time, he had to admit this that there is no way you can train fully for something like this. that's why we heard and we were talking about it earlier, the reports that many of these first responders were leaving that school in tears. just imagine witnessing that slaughter, the bodies of those tiny children on the ground. >> bill: yeah. the school itself is a couple hundred yards from our location here. we're at a local park called treadwell park. you know that those kids played here after school and they probably spent the weekends here with their family, soccer fields, football fields. you go through the forest here, down a hill before you come upon the school. inside that school is the crime

scene that they're trying to piece together so that we have a better idea what in the world was going on inside this young man's mind. >> and you think about what the community is going through, just to get back to your point about the kids playing here. this is a community. >> sandy hook itself, about 10,000. so everybody is going to know somebody affected by this and then all the questions are going to be asked what, on earth was going through the mind of adam lanza, who has been identified as the shooter by federal officials talking to our own rick leventhal. he apparently woke thumb morning, shot his mother in the face, went to her school, went into that school and then for reasons we can not fathom, murder sod many children. >> bill: jonathan, we'll speak again had a little bit. christmas is 11 days away. supposed to be like this. back live in newtown as our coverage continues.

>> bill: another live look